Raptors doing their best with flawed draft workout process

Toronto Raptors doing their best with flawed draft workout process

TORONTO — A wall was slapped and a curse was screamed.

Jeremy Lamb, the draft prospect from the University of Connecticut, had just sprained his ankle within the first five minutes of a workout with the Toronto Raptors. The shooting guard walked out of the Air Canada Centre’s practice court with Raptors trainer, Scott McCullough, rather agitated.

No less than an hour later, Austin Rivers, son of Doc, attacked the rim. He hung on the rim, let go, and clutched his left ankle immediately. The gym quieted. Eventually, Rivers decided to continue working out.

“It’s a shame kids getting hurt, twisting ankles,” Ed Stefanski, the Raptors executive vice-president of basketball operations, said. “We’ve done work all year long. This is to get to meet the kid, take him out and have a meal with him and see what he’s like.”

In other words: While draft workout season might draw a lot of buzz from playoff-starved fans, it is the months that come before it that matter more. If a fluke injury keeps the Raptors from picking Lamb, they have not done their due diligence.

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Nonetheless, the workouts hold some value. In that sense, it was disappointment for the Raptors to not get a full look at Lamb, one of three marquee swingmen that visited Toronto on Thursday. Harrison Barnes, the North Carolina small forward, joined Lamb and Rivers in the Air Canada Centre. Those three, along with Syracuse’s Dion Waiters, are the Raptors’ targets at the position. While Rivers took part in a group workout, Barnes had an individual workout. Barnes is expected to be picked before the Raptors select at eighth.

“You can’t put any stock in mock drafts,” Barnes said. “You never know where you’re going to end up. Working out for a variety of teams is only going to put yourself in a better situation in case someone passes on you.”

Of the three, Barnes is the best positional fit for the Raptors. He struggled to create his own shot at North Carolina, but he has elite skills for a collegiate player, from shooting to pure athleticism. Lamb is a slasher, a player who just finds a way to score. Rivers can put the ball on the floor more than both — Stefanski said he had a great right-to-left crossover dribble — but lacks vision.

The Raptors are not yet tipping their hand. One thing is for sure: if the workout process has its flaws for the teams, it does for the players, too.

Obviously, the risk of injuries is real. Lamb had to cancel a planned trip to Portland, and might have to cancel further workouts. And for what? So the Raptors can get a look at a player that they have already seen multiple times in actual competitive games.

Beyond that, there is the lack of competition. Barnes is the second player to come into Toronto to refuse to work out against other players, after Damian Lillard on Tuesday. That limits the push the likes of Rivers or North Carolina’s Kendall Marshall, players ranked lower at their positions, can make.

That means vastly different approaches for players. Barnes spoke of trying to see as many teams as possible, although Toronto was his first stop. Rivers is taking a different route. Despite being pegged as a low-lottery player, he is only making selected stops: New Orleans (10th), Toronto, Cleveland (4th), Washington (3rd) and Portland (6th and 11th).

But just two years ago, the Raptors wound up picking Ed Davis, a player whom they did not even work out, 13th. Nobody has quite figured out this draft workout process, or even if it is totally necessary.